San Jose Mogote

The largest of a number of village communities which developed in the Pre-Classic Period in central Oaxaca, Mexico, some time prior to 1300 be. Established in an area where the water table was a mere three metres below the land surface, agriculture was practised by ‘pot irrigation’, that is, direct watering from a well. Evidence of Olmec influence becomes increasingly apparent and by c900 be the village had grown to cover 20 hectares. By this time three areas of social and occupational diversity are apparent: small lower-class residences, public buildings and workshops. Large amounts of debris from ‘prized’ minerals such as ilmenite, haematite, mica and green quartz, coupled with finished goods of Olmec origin, suggest that San Jose Mogote was a manufacturing site which was part of an Olmec controlled trade system.